Donna Hufflepuff's Day Off At Hogwarts
by Donna Hufflepuff
Summary: Hufflepuff House Head and Potions Master, Donna Hufflepuff, gets a day off due to her classroom being out of order from an accident during her last class. One-shot. Rated T due to how much the writer despises spiders.


**_DONNA HUFFLEPUFF'S OFF DAY AT HOGWARTS _**

I don't usually wake up to sunlight filtering through the windows of my quarters. I always wake one hour before sunrise to get the class lessons ready for the day. But, this is no ordinary day. All of the students get the day off from Potions class due to a accident cause by some Gryffindor punk waving his wand all silly like over a very complex potions experiment I gave them. Sadly, instead of creating a cleansing potion, he blew up half of my classroom. 50 points was taken from Gryffindor for destroying my classroom. Professor Gryffindor argued that it was an accident. I agreed. It was an accident which cost me all of my equipment. And no amount of magic spells or charms can fix them. Filch will be cleaning my classroom by hand.

I looked at my clock and sighed. The Great Hall was probably starting to fill up. And Professor Slytherin likes to laugh when I'm late. I threw on my black and yellow wizard robes over my Badger Pride t-shirt and jeans, lacing up my tennis shoes. Quickly combing my fingers through my hair, I took off to the Great Hall.

I bursted in, gasping for breath. The Great Hall went quiet as students snickered at my entrance. Professor Gryffindor looked at me, shaking her head. I could just imagine her thinking 'Silly Donna'. I straightened up and stalked towards the Professors' table, taking my seat near her.

"You're late," she whispered.

"A wizard of the Hufflepuff family is never early nor late. We arrive when we mean to, Lily." Lily chuckled at that, then turned back to Headmaster Mantiz and resumed their heated debate about Power Rangers.

I looked over at Professor Slytherin and Professor Ravenclaw. "Which Power Rangers is it this time?" I asked them.

Professor Slytherin smirked. "Mystic Power Rangers vs Original Power Rangers, Donna."

"Merlin's beard, Lauren! Someone should stop them before a duel starts." I giggled.

Lauren looked at Professor Ravenclaw. "We should let you do the honors, Hagrid."

He laughed at that. "Not going to."

And with that, breakfast passed with the discussion of Power Rangers being the only topic discussed.

As class time rolled around, I felt particularly bored. Without my Potions class, my days seem rather empty. Then a thought came to me. What if I went exploring in the Forbidden forest? I could hopefully meet one of the centaurs or unicorns lurking in there. I've just got to stay away from the spiders. Nasty little things.

I skipped down the path to the forest, glancing over at the collection of third year students eyeing the Diricrawl Professor Ravenclaw was showing off before it vanished, causing a few ooo's and ahh's from the students. I gave them a wide berth. Hagrid would probably give me the lecture of how dangerous the Forbidden Forest is. Merlin's pants! Who am I kidding? Anyone would lecture me. I would lecture me! I should turn back. Maybe go visit some other classes. No! I decided to go explore the Forbidden Forest, and I shall go through with it. If there is one word to describe us Hufflepuffs, it's stubborn. Yeah, we're loyal, trustworthy, and hardworking, but we are stubborn.

I walked up to the line of trees, eyes narrowed. I'm going to do this. I placed one foot inside the forest and then another. I gazed around the dense crowd of trees. Seems alright. I trudged along, going further and further into the forest for what seemed like hours. When noon came around, I stopped and ate a biscuit I had packed away earlier. I continued on my merry way, keeping an eye out for a unicorn. Light soon became nonexistent. As I began to reach for my wand, my feet got in a tangle and I fell forwards. I tumbled down a hill, landing on some weird feeling thingy. I fished out the wand.

"Lumos," I cried, flicking my wand. White light beamed out from my wand almost immediately. I scanned the area and cringed. Devil's Snare. Damn it all! I'm going to leg-lock that Herbology Professor!

My spell sputtered out. Its vines ensnared me, my struggles only making it tighter. Wait. Don't I just need to relax? Ok. Relaxing thoughts. Daisies. Muggle chocolate. Flying. Pranks on the other House Heads. Moonlit nights. Books.

My muscles relaxed and I felt the Devil's Snare release it hold on me. I fell through and landed in something rather sticky. It was so dark down here. I looked around, hoping to see some light leading the way out. Finally, it seems luck was on my side. There was an exit not ten feet from where I was. I crawled my way out and regretted it.

Spiders upon spiders as far as the eyes can see. They noticed me and their chatter told me that they were deciding what to do with me. Eat the witch or toy with her. I didn't like their choices, so I came up with a third.

"HELP! SOMEBODY HELP ME!" I screamed. "ANYBODY! HELP!"

The spiders headed towards me. My voice must be annoying. One spider leapt towards me as I readied my wand.

"Incarcerous!" Rope flew out the tip of my wand and bound the spider up. I repeated this spell, aiming at the spiders. My adrenaline rush was waning and my reflexes began to slow.

A horn sounded, causing my to look up. Centaurs came running in with bows notched. Their leader, Firenze, scooped me up and carried me just a little ways outside of the spiders's den.

"Firenze," I greeted. Him and Professor Ravenclaw play Muggle video games every Saturday. Me and the other two House Heads occasionally join them for a game or two.

"Professor," the centaur said. "Why are you out here? Without one of the other professors, no less.

"It's my day off," I laughed nervously.

The centaur looked at me with questioning eyes, but didn't press any further. "Well, the day has long since ended, Professor. I suggest you head back."

I nodded, feeling rather dumb for getting myself into such a mess. I marched back towards the school. As I grew closer, I heard voices calling out.

"Professor Hufflepuff!"

"Donna!"

"Where are you, girl?"

I smiled. I shot off a yellow flare from my wand.

"What was that?"

"It's Donna's flare!"

"She's that way!"

The sounds of bodies running through the foliage grew louder and louder. Two young women and one young man burst through the bushes.

"Donna!" Lily cried as she hugged me.

"Professor," Hagrid said. "What were you thinking?"

"That's right, girl," Lauren said. "Why did you go into the Forbidden Forest? It's called forbidden for a reason."

"Heh, I went for a walk." I answered. The other three House Heads gave me a quizzical look. I grinned, walking toward the school once again. "What else would I do on my day off? Fight dark lords? You seem to forget who I am. I'm Donna Hufflepuff, plain old Donna. Neither extremely cunning, extremely brave, nor extremely smart. Just Donna."


End file.
